1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an engine and a portable generator having an engine and a generator body driven by the engine and accommodated within a sound insulating case together with the engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known portable generator includes an engine and a generator body driven by the engine, both being accommodated within a sound insulating case with a carrying handle provided at an upper part thereof for allowing gripping so that the generator can be hand-carried from one place to another. The sound insulating case needs to have increased rigidity, because it must support the heavy engine and generator body accommodated therein when the generator is lifted up for transportation by an operator's hand holding the carrying handle. However, it is quite difficult to increase rigidity of the sound insulating case without increasing the weight of the latter.
An example portable generator in which this is taken into consideration is proposed in, for example, Japanese Patent Post-Exam Publication No. HEI-1-21399 entitled "PORTABLE GENERATOR". The proposed generator comprises a frame unit consisting of a pair of right and left frame members connected in spaced relation to each other via a lower-positioned bottom cover and an upper-positioned carrying handle, an accommodating case comprised of plural soundproof covers arranged to surround the frame unit, and an engine and a generator body accommodated within the accommodating case.
In the proposed portable generator thus arranged, since rigidity of the accommodating case is increased through the provision of the frame unit, the configuration of the case is restricted by the configuration of the frame unit, whereby freedom in designing the configuration of the case is limited. Further, since the relatively heavy frame unit is employed for increasing the rigidity of the case, there is a room for improvement to substantially reduce the weight of the case including the frame unit.